Seven Days, Seven Dreams
by torchlight
Summary: The last days of his life, he dreamed seven dreams. Stories of “What-ifs” about Regulus


Seven Days, Seven Dreams

**Title**: Seven Days, Seven Dreams (1)**  
Prompt**: Strangers  
**Character**: Regulus and Sirius  
**Word Count**: 3783  
**DH Spoiler?**: It's a little difficult to say; the whole thing started before DH, but I think there's at least a little bit of spoiler after I edited it.  
**Rating**: PG for death  
**Summary**: The last days of his life, he dreamed seven dreams. (Stories of "What-ifs" about Regulus. Yeah, it's getting old, but I couldn't resist getting this out of my mind)  
**Author's Note**: Just as usual, I suck at grammar. I hope I could get around to improve it, later. For **fanfic100** . It's also AU after DH came out.  
**Disclaimer**: Not mine, as much as I wish it to be

**Seven Days, Seven Dreams**

**The last days of his life, he dreamed seven dreams.**

His days were numbered.

He didn't know why they haven't got to him yet. Maybe the Dark Lord had other priorities needed to be attended to first, so a treacherous cowardly Death Eater could be dealt with later. He clutched his fingers over the small silver locket, feeling coldness sipped through his skin.

They had not discovered this little secret of his yet. Or else the Dark Lord would not allow him to walk away from the cave in one piece and free, albeit severely damaged and frightened.

The pale moonlight fell across the lake, painting the environment into an eerie shade of ivory. He tried not to think of what there were in the water. His house elf crouched at his feet, mumbling incoherently about something, sounding very much like "what would Mistress said".

"Kreacher, bring us home."

He said softly. He really didn't have any energy left to apparate. Of course, even if he did, this place would not allow him to.

"And silently, do not disturb Mother or Father." he added quietly before Kreacher could make any attempt to take them back.

He felt sick, his body was sore, and he was very sure his legs were hurt. Gripping Kreacher's hand firmly, Regulus let Kreacher get them back to his room, dark and slightly dusty.

"Kreacher, you can go now. Do not say a single word about this to a single soul. Not even Mother or Father. Do you understand?"

Kreacher grumbled something unintelligible, nodded slightly; something looked suspiciously like tears glistening in his eyes.

Sighing inaudibly, Regulus gave a soft pat to Kreacher on his back and ordered quietly again, "Go back and rest. Go."

Kreacher nodded silently and retreat. Looking at him disappearing outside the door, Regulus shut his eyes tightly, didn't want to think of what had just happened.

He muttered some healing spell to his legs and then stumbled onto the bed, slipping the locket inside the bedside drawer.

Any worry would be left to tomorrow; now what he wanted most was to simply sleep, to forget everything about this world, about his life. He slowly fell into a slumber; then he saw another magical world opened its wondrous doors to welcome him.

**Sunday. Stranger**

Just like strangers; but not really

He couldn't breathe. Struggling vainly for air in the water, he panicked.

His head was dizzy, and he had no idea how he ended in the water. He should be on the way to his lessons, confident and fully prepared for his sixth year. A very important year; or so his parents said.

He struggled fiercely, trying to get more air.

A hand suddenly grabbed his left arm and pulled him forcefully up the shore. When he was able to breathe he let out a sigh of relief. Thank Merlin there was someone nearby. With gratitude, he looked up into a pair of familiar grey eyes, filled with concern.

_Sirius. _

He was more than surprised by such open display of concern in his brother's eyes.

_Sirius stopped worrying about me the moment he made friends with Potter._

Regulus thought, wanting to laugh mirthlessly. He made an effort to stand up, brushing Sirius' hand aside.

Reluctantly grumbled a "Thanks" to the air, deliberately not looking at Sirius, he turned to leave.

Sirius was not letting him go without a talk. Gripping Regulus' arm to stop him, Sirius asked impatiently, "Are you alright, Reg? What's wrong?"

_What's wrong? _

Regulus whirled around and looked at Sirius directly in his eyes, wanting to scream "Everything is wrong, Sirius! Everything is wrong the moment you decided to be sorted into Gryffindor! And now you ask _me_ what's wrong."

Yet he stood there staring at Sirius, could not utter a word; a sense of weirdness suddenly threatened to drown his mind. There was something wrong about Sirius; or about himself; or about this place; he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Sirius walked towards him slowly, eye contact never wavering.

"You are very touchy and strange today, Reg. Care to tell me why? And by the way," Sirius pointed to his robe and tie, mouth thinned, "What happened to your dress? Why are you wearing _those_?"

"There's nothing wrong with my dress!" Regulus looked down briefly to ensure his attire was indeed alright before retorted hotly, "and I am always touchy around you, so go away!"

Sirius frowned.

Regulus suddenly felt nervous. This wasn't the Sirius he knew. The reaction was all _wrong_.

The Sirius he knew would tease him mercilessly as soon as he was out of the water (_but he would pull him out of the water first, of course_), and within two minutes he would be gone together with his _friends_. Sirius never liked staying near him, let alone talking to him for anything more than absolute necessity. The sudden change in attitude and Sirius looking at him strangely now, eyeing him up and down suspiciously, all these unnerved him.

"I am sorry to give you a bad news, but Regulus was never quite this touchy around me. So," Sirius said in a deliberate low voice slowly, looking intently at Regulus, "_Who_ on earth are you?"

Regulus swallowed and retorted, "Who do you think I am? Of course I am the unlucky brother of Sirius Black. On the other hand, while we are at it, who are _you_?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes, "Really? I see. Now, I think, is a time we are good for a chat with Dumbledore."

He grabbed Regulus' left arm firmly and dragged him towards the castle.

"What—"

Regulus tried to struggle; but he only did half-heartedly for a moment. Soon he gave up and let Sirius drag him along.

_Yes, _he decided,_ we did need to see Dumbledore. Everything just doesn't make sense._

Not that he's particularly fond of visiting _the Muggle loving fool_'s office; but if there's anyone who could make sense of the current situation, it was probably him.

When McGonagall led them into the office, he glanced around the room with the curiosity of a very small child. It was the first time he's been to Dumbledore's office. Not like Sirius, who must have been in this place more times than he could count.

Before he realized it he was already standing in front of Dumbledore's desk, left arm still in Sirius' grip. He shrugged Sirius off quickly. Suddenly feeling nervous out of nowhere – he knew he did nothing wrong, yet he could help feeling restless. He stared at the desk instead of looking at Dumbledore.

"Ah, young gentlemen, what brings you to my office, may I ask?" Dumbledore's voice was pleasant and mild as ever, and he sounded like he was rather amused.

Sirius hesitated for a moment before started, "…it's Regulus. Or whoever this is. There's something wrong with him. He doesn't sound like my brother, and he's wearing Slytherin colours! This definitely is _**not**_ my brother!"

Regulus straightened his back a little and finally looked up at Dumbledore, "Sir, I would say the same thing about _him_! He doesn't feel right to me. I've never seen him behaving like this. And to me, there is nothing wrong in wearing Slytherin colours!"

Maybe because of the absurdity of the claims, Dumbledore's amusement only seemed to grow, "Hmm, may I ask, what were you doing before this happened?"

"He was…"

"I was…"

Sirius glared at Regulus, "Let me say it."

Regulus shrugged and remained silent after that.

"He was drowning in the lake - I didn't know how he fell into it. I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. After that, we argued, and end up here in your office."

"So, before the incident that he fell into the lake, everything was normal?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes!" Sirius answered quickly. Regulus merely nodded.

Dumbledore stood up and walked to them. He looked at them both intently. The amusement half gone.

"Young Misters, I think this is really something that needs a very good explanation, if you are both telling the truth. I only hope that you will listen to me."

Dumbledore looked into their eyes as if to check whether they have lied, and then he smiled again.

"I think I can assure both of you, that none of you is wrong in your claim. But sometimes, just sometimes, fate has a little twisted humour to play on us. What you experienced is indeed a very old magical occurrence that is rarely seen these days."

Dumbledore took another fifteen minutes to explain to them what this strange event meant.

Finally Sirius spoke, "So, what you are trying to tell us in the past fifteen minutes is, we are from two different _worlds_; and in _that _world of his, the Regulus standing beside me is in Slytherin, while _my_ _brother_ Regulus is in Gryffindor. Now because of some twisted magic, he enters our world."

"Essentially, yes." Dumbledore nodded.

Sirius turned to look at Regulus, a frown appeared on his face; like he couldn't wrap around the idea of a _different_ Regulus. One that doesn't belong in Gryffindor.

Regulus didn't blame him. He had every difficulty imagining himself a _Gryffindor_. He could only wonder how his mother would react if this ever happened in _his_ world.

"But, but what happened to _my brother_ then? What happened to Regulus in our world?" Sirius stammered slightly.

Dumbledore put a soothing hand on his shoulder, "Do not worry, Mr. Black. If I did not speculate wrongly, your brother would be in his counterpart's place. There will be a way to rectify the problem. Most often, the nature corrects the slight twist of fate itself after a short period of time."

"What if it didn't? He, _my brother_, he's going to be stuck in a world where everyone expects him to be a Slytherin; yet he's not!" Sirius wouldn't back down.

Dumbledore replied calmly, "I am sure he would seek the help of my counterpart, or whoever that's responsible for Hogwarts in that world. And we would do our best to help."

He turned to Regulus, "I hope I am right to presume that there is someone who can offer help to your counterpart?"

Regulus nodded slightly, "I think…he would look for your help, sir. Or rather, your counterpart's help."

Dumbledore smiled mildly at him and nodded, "That would be great. Meanwhile, young gentlemen, we have to settle Regulus' stay in this place. Before we find a solution to this problem, I am afraid Mr. Regulus Black will have to stay in our world. What do you say about Regulus staying in the Gryffindor tower with Sirius. Is this arrangement acceptable for both of you?"

"What—" Sirius spluttered, "Let him stay with me? But he's not Regulus. Well, not really! At least not the Regulus I know! He's a _Slytherin_!"

Regulus looked down again. He didn't want to look too eager to accept the offer. He wanted to spend time with his brother. Well, not _his brother_ exactly, but Sirius nonetheless; Gryffindor, short-tempered, looking-for-trouble Sirius. He wanted to stay with Sirius, even though that meant he would also be staying with all those Mudbloods and such; but he didn't want to look too eager.

If Sirius would not have him stay in the Gryffindor tower, he's not going to plead. Just like when Sirius ran away.

_If Sirius wasn't going to stay, he sure was not going to plead._

It was that simple.

Dumbledore looked at Sirius for a while, and then turned to Regulus, "What do you say, Regulus?"

Regulus didn't prepare for the question to be directed at him so quickly and he stuttered, "Eh, well, whatever Sirius is comfortable with."

He regretted saying this right away. He should reject the offer at once; say he wanted to stay elsewhere. With the Slytherins, probably; though that would surely complicate the whole problem.

He was surprised to find Sirius' expression softened at his words.

Sirius sighed a little, conceded, "Well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. He could stay with me."

Dumbledore smiled, "That solved a big issue. Now, just a word of caution. I will be looking into the solution for this problem with other professors. However, you should keep this strictly a secret between the two of you. The fewer people know this the better."

Sirius looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it and stopped. Regulus simply nodded.

"Great. Now off you go. Please continue your daily activities." Dumbledore finally dismissed them.

They trotted out of Dumbledore's office quickly. Regulus was trailing half a step behind Sirius, remaining silent along the way.

It was Sirius who finally broke the silence after a few minutes, "So, what is it like over there?"

Regulus stared for a moment and then realized Sirius meant what it was like in the other world.

He shrugged, "Nothing really struck me as too different in this place yet. The same old castle, the same lake, Dumbledore's more or less the same. Everything else I couldn't really compare yet."

"Oh." Sirius kicked the wall absentmindedly. After a moment of silence, he asked again, "What about me? Is there anything different about me?"

Regulus faltered at this question.

"Eh, no, I don't think so. Not really different, anyway." He finally said after some hesitation.

"But you insisted just now that I don't feel right. Not like your brother." Sirius pressed.

"Well, my brother, he, isn't really on speaking terms with me. So when you asked whether I was alright at the lake, I was just…a little surprised." Regulus said hesitantly and very quietly.

"Why is your brother—Oh…" Sirius realized at once what might be the answer of his question and caught himself in time.

"Yeah…" Regulus replied vaguely.

They continued their walk towards the Gryffindor tower in silence.

Finally they reached their destination, Sirius gestured to the Fat Lady and said dramatically to Regulus, "Welcome to Gryffindor, the most magnificent of four houses in Hogwarts! Be my guest. Well, at least if you don't make too much trouble."

Regulus gave him a weak smile and attempted a retorted, "I thought you were the one who would make too much trouble."

Sirius laughed, "That's too true! Of course, me and James, who couldn't stay out of trouble's way!"

He said the password happily and the Portrait swung open.

Only he turned to find Regulus stood where he was and did not follow.

"What's the matter?" Sirius asked.

Regulus hesitated for a moment and then finally said, "I…don't get along very well with Pott-_James Potter_. Or most of Gryffindors, for that matter. Just, help distract them a little when they are around me, or I am afraid I will slip something."

Sirius frowned, but agreed nonetheless, "Okay. Just stay close to me whenever possible then."

Regulus nodded mutely and he was suddenly very envious of his other self. He could picture when first sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius said the same thing to him.

_Stay close to me._

This meant in Sirius' vocabulary, _I would protect you_.

Not like what Sirius said to him after his sorting.

'Go back to your little _friends_. Here's not where you should be!'

He followed Sirius into the Gryffindor common room wordlessly. It was lucky for him that the common room was rather empty in this hour of the day. Sirius led him to the Boys' Dormitory and pointed to him which bed would be his to stay.

Regulus then watched Sirius dug out books and other belongings of his other self.

"Not sure how long you are going to stay, so maybe you will need all these. Just be careful with them. Don't scribble anything on the books; take care of the books and such. Regulus will go insane when he gets back if he finds out his books are not under good care. A book-loving freak, he is." Sirius said with a fond and indulging smile.

Regulus returned the smile slightly, "Don't worry, I am quite a freak regarding caring for books myself. I think they will be under good hands."

Sirius laughed, "That's good. Now I am more confident that you really are Regulus, although not exactly the same one as mine."

Regulus only nodded.

Sirius patted his shoulder, "Just do whatever you like. I will ask one of your classmates to excuse you from today's lessons. I am having Transfiguration soon, so I need to get going. See you tonight then. Don't get yourself into trouble!"

He then jogged off.

Regulus waved his goodbye and wondered, was Sirius _this_ elder-brotherly with everyone around him. He never had the chance to find out with _his_ brother. Not after he went to Hogwarts, at least; but he think he could remember a time, when they were really young, Sirius would let him follow around and play together with him. Maybe Sirius was very protective of him at that time. He just couldn't really remember anything more specific.

He stared at the books lay before him, didn't know what to do next. A feeling of dread suddenly rose inside his mind after Sirius left. He was in a completely strange world. No, not _completely _strange, but strange enough that he didn't know what to expect, and how to behave. What would the other Regulus do when he was asked a question? Or when he met a Gryffindor? Or worse, when he met a Slytherin? Would he taunt them or make pranks on them like his brother would? He was confused and he wanted so much to go back to _his_ world, where he knew what to expect from everyone.

Sitting on his bed with nothing he would like to do, he wished Sirius would come back soon.

Bored and drained, the bed looked very tempting to him. He shoved everything back to their original place and lied on the bed. Very comfortable. He slowly fell asleep.

When he woke up it was already dark outside the window. He wondered what time it was now. He definitely missed dinner.

A sudden voice startled him.

"Oh, so you are awake. Great. I was thinking I really need to wake you up by now."

It was Sirius; and he felt his heart beat slowed down to normal pace.

"I fell asleep in late afternoon. I must have missed dinner." Regulus said.

Sirius lit up the room and grinned, "Don't worry. I never let anyone starve under my care. I've saved you something when I realized you were asleep. If that's not enough, we could always sneak out to the kitchen later."

"Oh…Thanks…" Sneaking out into the kitchen? That definitely sound like something Sirius would do.

Sirius went downstairs and brought up a rather large piece of cake, some chicken wings and lots of fruit. He sat down next to Regulus carefully.

Regulus looked at what Sirius brought and smiled.

"Thanks." Regulus said again before digging in, grateful that Sirius remembered to bring something for him.

"No problem." Sirius grinned.

Regulus finished the food quickly and when to wash his hands. When he came back, he found Sirius looking up and down at him for a moment.

Regulus' smiled sheepishly at him, "Is there anything wrong?"

Sirius shook his head, remained silent.

"Tell me about yourself." Sirius finally broke the silence after a few moments' awkwardness, "I wanted to know…what _Regulus_ would be like if he's in Slytherin. I've been wondering about this for the whole afternoon."

Regulus pressed his lips tight.

"…you really wouldn't want to know the details." He said after a moment, eyes staring at the floor, "It is what you could expect, I think."

Sirius contemplated and then said slowly, "So, it's something like, you think Mother and Father are right…That Muggles and Muggleborns are filthy; that I am a blood traitor…and…"

"Yes." Regulus interrupted him a little coldly, suddenly irritated at Sirius for bring this topic up, "So don't bother to play nice elder brother to me. I am not the Regulus of yours. I am not _your_ brother!"

_Like you painstakingly reminded me every time I met you and your lot, that only __**they**__ were your brothers._

Regulus stood up abruptly and turned to leave, didn't want to stay in the same room with Sirius anymore.

Not if he wanted to talk about _that_.

"No, I am not." Sirius grabbed Regulus' shoulder from behind to stop him and whirled him around. Sirius' grey eyes seemed to shine brightly. He looked at Regulus' expression carefully and his voice softened, "Yet you miss _your_ brother, don't you?"

Regulus felt his eyes moistened.

"I…" He stammered, wanted to denied, but couldn't get out a word.

_Oh, he's going to see me crying if he doesn't stop staring._

Regulus thought desperately.

Sirius suddenly moved closer to him and embraced him tightly.

"Don't cry, Reg…And I am sorry, Regulus. I am sorry if I ever hurt you. I am sorry if sometimes I said something that I didn't mean to. I am sorry if I treated you badly. I am sorry." Sirius said quietly to him.

But he was crying in Sirius' arms now. Sobbing in his brother's shoulder, he thought in despair.

_If only this is __**my**__ Sirius, if only he could say something like this to me._

He shut his eyes tightly and rasped, still clung to _his brother _(Oh how he wish it was truly his brother) tightly, "And I am sorry! I am sorry I listened to Mother and Father! I am sorry I didn't realize you are right! I am sorry I joined _them_. I am sorry I've killed! I don't want to anymore! I am so sorry!"

He was suddenly frozen and _Oh what had he said_! This was not true, he was only in his sixth year; he had not joined the Dark Lord. Not yet. He hadn't killed, and…

But Sirius' face in front of him was distorting, changing into an expression of hatred and distain. His eyes filled with disgust.

"No Sirius, please! Don't! Sirius, please don't…Listen to me…I didn't…"

Suddenly Sirius was no longer there. He disappeared in a swirl with everything else. Regulus was now standing at the shore of _that_ lake, looking into countless deathly faces of inferi.

He screamed.

Panting heavily and sweating, he opened his eyes. He realized he's still in his dusty room. No Hogwarts; no Sirius; all alone.

Sat up and stared at the empty space, he shivered. Tugging the bed sheets up a little, he thought he could still feel Sirius' warm embrace around him. Sirius' voice echoed in his ear.

_I am sorry, Regulus. I am sorry if I ever hurt you._

And he wept silently in the darkness.

**End of Sunday**


End file.
